diathesis

diathesis \dahy-ATH-uh-sis\, noun:

Pathology. a constitutional predisposition or tendency, as to a particular disease or affection.

There are indications of a strumous diathesis. In broad terms, I may say that you have a constitutional and hereditary taint.
-- Arthur Conan Doyle, Round the Red Lamp, 1894

The diathesis or mental constitution of the recipient, and the material operations which he performs on these images by virtue of thisdiathesis.
-- Edited by Robin Osborne and Jeremy Tanner, Art's Agency and Art History, 2007

Diathesis comes from the Greek word diáthesis meaning "arrangement, disposition."